The ANR Award is special for me: Shyam Benegal

Shyam Benegal, the famous Indian film director, who has won many awards for his for his contribution to Indian cinema said in a press meet that, out of all the awards he has received, the ANR national award is special for him as he has received it in his native town of Hyderabad.

The film industry has undergone rapid changes in the recent times. "There were no special songs in the movies earlier. Now, the films have item songs and the business has increased as the leading ladies are featured in these songs. In addition to art, cinema is also a business. Multiplexes have changed the scenario of the business of cinema immensely. In Hindi, Anurag Kashyap, Vishal Bhardwaj and Dibakar Banerjee nake movies on sensitive issues".

Veteran director Shyam Benegal received the ANR Award for his contribution to cinema.

He also added that films are made for a large audience of different age groups, and of different preferences thus, the films should contain elements that are useful to the society". For instance, women are considered to be dependent in our society, therefore, I tried to portray women characters as independent in my films".

"Unity in diversity is our policy. So, it is the duty of the censor board to oversee that the films can be seen by all the classes. Taking the recent 'Viswaroopam' issue he said that even after the censor board has approved of a film to be released, some political groups try to hinder its release claiming the film has can hurt their sentiments or that the film portrays certain groups in bad light, We can understand the situation by this incident" he said.